FFS teams up with the Blackfoot Challenge to lead three field trips

Submitted by fl_admin on Thu, 10/18/2018 - 07:41

At the end of September and beginning of October, FFS Ecologist Ilana Abrahamson, Biological Science Technician Eva Masin, and WFM RD&A Fire Application Specialist Erin Noonan-Wright teamed up with the Blackfoot Challenge to lead three separate field trips to the 2017 Rice Ridge Fire on the Lolo National Forest, Montana. The Blackfoot Challenge is a community support group for the Blackfoot Watershed, formed to coordinate efforts to conserve and enhance the natural resources of the watershed. Five schools within the watershed participated, sending students from Kindergarten through eighth grade to learn about wildland fire science and management. Students explored the burned area and completed hands-on activities from the FireWorks curriculum, developed by fire scientists from the Missoula Fire Lab. Activities included examining bark thickness, tree structure, cones, and regeneration to learn about how different species of trees respond to fire. Students dramatized the way fire scars form to learn about growth rings and fire history. Finally, they had a scavenger hunt to assess their understanding of fire science.